Online Local News Networks As Potential Salvation

It’s a variation on weaving gold out of straw — roll up enough local sites into a national network and the money will come in. At least, that’s what Lee Enterprises is counting on with its recent acquisition of DotConnect Media. The company is banking on creating a common ads buying experience across diverse markets. David Teitler, DotConnect president: “A single pipe, one order, one bill, one CPM, across the country, whether 211 DMA’s or two DMA’s.” As columnist Randall Rothenberg explains, Teitler has been a “newspaper-network fantasist since the mid-1990s” when he was at the National Newspaper Network.
The bigger question may be how many of these networks can coexist and make money for members.

Disclosure: My partner is an editor at the Lee-owned St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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